A wireless communication system compliant with wireless communication standard ISA 100.11a (wireless communication standard for industrial automation) developed by the International Society of Automation (ISA) and a wireless communication system compliant with WirelessHART (Registered Trademark) are known as industrial wireless communication systems. Each of these wireless communication systems uses slot hopping to achieve highly reliable wireless communication.
In slot hopping, the frequency channels and time slots in wireless communications between communication nodes are defined individually, thereby preventing interference and achieving highly reliable wireless communication. In a wireless communication system using slot hopping, the communication nodes share a hopping table that stipulates the frequency channels and time slots between the individual communication nodes, and the time slots and frequency hopping in wireless communication between the communication nodes are thereby managed collectively. Such a wireless communication system has been disclosed in detail in the US patents and Japanese patents listed below, and in the ISA100.11a standard, etc.